Recently, CPA Australia, one of the world's largest professional accounting groups, released the latest survey results, finding that the business community has confidence in China's economic and business prospects in 2022, and China will continue to play an important role in promoting the recovery of the global economy.
CPA Australia interviewed 210 Chinese finance, accounting and finance professionals on China's economic prospects and business confidence in 2022. According to the survey results, 69% of respondents expect China's GDP to grow by 5% or more in 2022; 83% expect their companies to increase or remain unchanged in 2022, while 47% of respondents expect corporate earnings to increase by 2% or more. In addition, 49% of respondents expect their companies to increase the number of employees in China.
Wu Jiayuan, a member of CPA Australia's North China Committee and a senior certified public accountant in Australia, said respondents were generally optimistic about stable economic growth in 2022. The confidence of the business community mainly stems from the implementation of a series of measures to promote stable economic growth, such as China's effective epidemic prevention and control and government policy regulation.
"However, the rising risk of uncertainty in the global economy, the recurrence of the epidemic, coupled with a series of major challenges such as potential international trade barriers, will still adversely affect many enterprises, especially small and micro enterprises facing cost pressures." Therefore, the government's recent series of precise relief measures for small and micro enterprises are very timely, such as strengthening the loan support for inclusive small and micro enterprises and a series of tax and fee reduction measures, which will help reduce the financial burden of small and micro enterprises and reduce financing costs. ”
In order to maintain long-term growth and stay ahead of technology iterations, 59% of respondents in the survey expect their companies to increase their investment in new technologies this year, while 47% expect their companies' main strategic priorities in 2022 to be "digital transformation, technological development and innovation". In addition, the survey found that 88% of respondents said their companies would undertake environmental, social responsibility and corporate governance (ESG) initiatives.
Yu Zheng, Chairman of CPA Australia East and Central China Committee and Senior Certified Public Accountant of Australia, predicts that the application and innovation of technology, ESG and consumption will be the hot direction of corporate investment and mergers and acquisitions this year, and the prospects will continue to be good.
"Digital transformation and innovation are key drivers of business growth. The percentage of respondents who expect their companies to increase their investments in new technologies has increased by two percentage points compared to last year, which has also made this proportion continue to rise for two consecutive years. Under the guidance of the 14th Five-Year Plan, driven by technologies such as large-scale coverage of 5G signals, artificial intelligence, blockchain and the rapid development of cloud technology, a strong level of commercial technology application and innovation will enable Chinese enterprises to prepare for further development and expansion." At the same time, we are pleased to see that most Chinese companies will embark on a series of ESG-oriented actions, indicating that local companies are accelerating the integration of ESG into their business models, which will contribute to the achievement of the national carbon peak carbon neutrality goal. ”
Wang Shunyi, Vice President of CPA Australia's South China Regional Committee and Senior Certified Public Accountant in Australia, pointed out that 85% of respondents expect their companies to increase their business activities in the Greater China region in the next three years, which is another positive signal reflecting the steady development of the overall economy.
"Respondents have the highest percentage of respondents who choose to expand their business to the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA) over the next three years, with 47% expecting their companies to increase their business activities in the GBA, demonstrating that the GBA's market size, large talent pool and strong innovation and technology ecosystem are extremely attractive to companies seeking growth opportunities." Wang Shunyi suggested that enterprises should learn more about the latest information on the development of the Greater Bay Area, such as preferential policies and consumer behavior patterns, and formulate their own long-term development strategies to better take advantage of the unique development opportunities of the Greater Bay Area.
In view of the development trend of the tax field that enterprises are concerned about this year, Zhu Bin, vice president of the East China and Central China Committee of CPA Australia and senior certified public accountant in Australia, believes that in order to better meet the needs of scientific and technological innovation and economic development and transformation, it is expected that further incentive measures will be taken this year to increase tax support for R&D activities of enterprises and scientific research institutions.
"With the easing of the epidemic situation, although the development of tax policies and tax law enforcement may still be some distance from returning to the normal state before the epidemic, it will be gradually normalized, temporary emergency relief or adjustment measures may be gradually reduced, and support policies based on long-term encouragement and tax source stabilization will be more normalized and implemented."
Based on the results of this survey, CPA Australia also provides six suggestions for Chinese enterprises:
The first is to make good use of existing preferential policies to achieve market expansion, for example, we can consider diversifying and expanding our businesses in the Greater Bay Area. The second is to clarify the medium- and long-term development strategy of enterprises, and rationally allocate resources to carry out short-term, medium- and long-term research and development investment in target areas. The third is to establish a long-term ESG strategy or framework to clarify the ESG-related rights and responsibilities of different business units. The fourth is to conduct regular self-examinations to continuously improve the internal tax compliance and internal control system of the enterprise. Fifth, combined with the characteristics of the industry in which the enterprise is located and its own business strategy, weigh the market opportunities, capital risks and corporate governance risks. The sixth is to focus on cultivating, upgrading and retraining talents' scientific and technological application and innovation capabilities to enhance the competitiveness of enterprises.
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